Abstract

Objective:
One of the prominent microorganisms in several reports of nosocomial infections is Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) which is carried by several health care workers (HCW) many times throughout the day. The present investigation was conducted to assess the nasal and hand carriage rate of S. aureus amongst medical personnel of Loghman Hakim Hospital's Toxicological Intensive Care Unit (TICU).

Patients and Methods:
All health care workers of TICU (n= 70) were recruited to this study. A questionnaire with demographic information, work category, duration of working in the (TICU) and history of infection by S. aureus was completed by one trained nurse of the ward. A total of 140 swabs (nasal=70, hand=70) were collected from personnel in TICU. Isolates with both inhibition zone diameter ?13 mm around oxacillin disc and ?21 mm around cefoxitin disc were considered MRSA strains. Also, we used KOH preparation technique to identify hyphae from the samples.

Result:
Eighteen (25.7%) persons were S. aureus carriers while methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found in 6 (8.6%) subjects. There was no significant difference between the sexes (p = 0.075), age (p = 0.080), work category (p=0.100), and duration of working in the TICU (?5 and>5 years) (p = 0.875) with regard to nasal and hand carriage of S. aureus.

Conclusion:
Transmission of S. aureus by HCWs has to be concerned, however more studies are required to examine the relationship between nasal or hand colonization of MRSA in HCWs and subsequent MRSA infection in patients.